The Void
by Suki.Fictionist
Summary: Joker wakes to find that he cannot recall his last moments, nor does he recognise his surroundings. Strangely, he finds help in the most unexpected person, but what is the motive of the little rat?


The Void

It was pitch black, the type that one dreamt of, the type that one feared, the type one dreaded regardless of what nightmares they had faced in their life. The type of blackness that one feared it would swallow one whole.

No matter how hard he thought of how he ended up in his current predicament his mind kept coming up blank.

The darkness was so thick that when he stretched out his arm he could not see past his elbow. He slowly lowered his arm back.

He could not even remember who he was.

He looked down upon himself to see if there was any clue as to who he was or how he had gotten to where he was. He was wearing a purple coat, accompanied by a purple blazer, green waistcoat and a blue hexagonal shirt.

Purple and Green.

Without thinking twice he knew something was wrong and his hands flew up to his face. His fingers met harsh and raised skin.

He let out a quick gasp and his already limited vision began to blur with tears.

He staggered back a few steps and felt himself over. He found no injuries or items on his person; he was not sure whether to think himself fortunate or not. He choked on strangled sobs. He shook with distraught and held his head in his hands.

Bizarrely, he could not even see the ground on top of which he was standing. Once, he came out of his shock, he slowly lowered his hands back to his mouth. For whatever reason, he had scars, and when he felt them over again he realised that they stretched his mouth into what he imagined to be a grotesque smile.

He let out a few more shudders and gasps until he remembered: he was _The Joker_. Suddenly, just as quickly as his shock had came, it was gone. In fact, he could no longer feel anything and that made him feel sick to the stomach… _almost_.

He felt hallow on the inside more than nausea.

He took a few cautious steps – once he had remembered who he was, the fear had also dissipated, but not the irritation of not knowing where he was.

Despite his quick decision to move, the actual action of moving forward had seemed to take far too long. On his third step a straight lit cream pathway began to glow beneath his feet. He was not sure how he had not seen it before however he had no other option than to follow it. There was no going back for the path began to crumble behind him as he advanced forward.

Slowly but surely he saw a faint spec of light up ahead. He felt as though he had walked for hours however he was not quite sure considering the darkness was quite disorientating. His stride hastened, his mind very much alter and his being very much exhausted as well.

As he nearly ran towards the light it began to increase in size until he noticed it looked very much like a door. He ran through the door, not caring what was on the other side and ready to break through the darkness that had almost dulled his mind and body.

Once through the door it slammed shut but he had half expected that for some reason.

Thus far there was had not been a single soul that he had seen.

He studied his surroundings only to feel even more frustrated. The same oppressive darkness surrounded him but at the very least there were seven lamp posts that illuminated the odd path.

It seemed more like a platform rather than a path. A train platform at that. There were benches underneath each lamppost along with the odd trash can. Strangely there were no signs that told him where he was and the station itself seemed deserted as well. He looked to his right but there was no train and there was no other path that led beyond the station or platform itself. It was the same case on the left of him.

He turned back to the door from where he had arrived through only to find it missing. There was a brick wall where the door had been. He cocked his head, ' **Hmm.** '

Perhaps he was having a fit or a hallucination.

He scanned his surroundings once more and decided that he was no longer in Gotham either. Firstly, the station was old but much older than any train station he had ever seen in Gotham and he knew Gotham like the back of his hand. Secondly, it was too clean to be a part of Gotham, even the farthest corners of Gotham had some graffiti or trash ruining its image.

Perhaps he had been poisoned and was in a state of death? Or one of his henchmen had slipped something in his food. But then why did they not kill him? Maybe he was in a state of limbo even?

It didn't add up. The last thing he could recall was being with the Bat-

"Hi there!"

Joker swivelled around but saw no one. Impossible, he clearly heard someone.

She giggled, "Down here!"

Joker looked down to find a little girl. She had curly dirty blond hair, brown eyes and a large cheeky grin. Her frayed jeans were dirty almost as much as her sneakers, her plain grey top was barely hanging on her skinny form and her tiara was about to fall off her head. She was holding onto the straps of her pink dirty bag and continued to smile up at him.

" _Hi_." Joker finally drawled out. He looked around once more before he kneeled down. He didn't want to scare her away when there was no one else he could have fun with or more importantly question. "You're gonna have to help me here, _little girl_."

She giggled again but he wasn't going to harm her, no point in killing her if she hadn't done anything wrong… yet. Besides, it would be too easy killing her.

' **Maybe she's stupid…** ' Joker thought to himself, ' **talking to strangers in the dark.** '

But then again, instinct told him this was no ordinary darkness.

"I'm not a little girl, I'm Lucy!" She held out her hand to him.

' **Yes, very stupid indeed. But then again there's no one else around and-'**

"You're supposed to shake my hand now. Here, let me show you" She jutted out her hand farther and captured his right hand and shook it.

She was a fortunate girl for had he had any weapons on him he would have killed her. Regardless, Joker jerked his hand back. She was awfully confident and almost too happy.

"Yeah, _very_ nice to meet you _Lucy_. Do you know who _I_ am?" Joker sneered.

Lucy smiled brightly and nodded, "Of course I know who you are! I came back just for you!"

"Yeah?" Joker nodded slowly.

"Yeah!" she nodded back instead of answering. "Now come on, it's coming. We don't want to miss that train otherwise we'll be lost forever."

Joker made a move to question her further but then a great light shone his way and he belatedly realised that an old steam powered train was headed their way. It tooted its horn at them and came to a slow halt.

' **Yeah… definitely not Gotham'** Joker noted as he stood.

"Come on! Hurry!" She grabbed his hand and ran towards the doors. Joker played along and followed her, this was the first time he was going to see another human being since he arrived here.

Only, when the doors opened the attendee looked nothing like the humans Joker had often dealt with.

There was a basic outline of a person but that was about it. It was as if Joker was looking at a shadow of a person, quite _literally_. He could even see through said shadow at certain places. In fact, if he didn't know any better he thought the shadow was made of the same darkness that surrounded them.

As he stood stunned at the platform, he vaguely registered the little girl put her bag down.

"Huh?" she said as the shadow man held out his hand "Oh, right! Sorry I forgot, hehe." She let go of Joker's hand and started to rifle through her bag.

Meanwhile Joker pulled his hand up and passed it right through the shadow man. His eyebrows rose in awe and observed that his hand looked like it had gone missing in the shadow man's body. He retracted his hand when the shadow man shook his finger at him as if to say 'How dare you!'

"Look here, I don't think even Houdini could have done that trick. I mean my hand was there one second and POOF, gone the next." Joker chuckled. He looked down at Lucy only to see she had pulled out a stuffed rabid looking dog, a colouring book, lots and lots of crayons and colouring pencils from her bag.

He turned back to the shadow man and began to talk whilst moving his hand wildly, "Work with me, will ya? Look!" Joker rapidly moved his arm in and out of the shadow man's torso and cackled "Woo, hehe, haha, come on. Don't tell me you've never had this done to you." Joker exclaimed. "Killing you wouldn't be fun at all. Where's your face and well… everything else?" Joker pointed to him.

If the shadow man had a face, Joker was sure that he was most probably glaring at him. He could already see the man or rather it flaring it's nostrils at him.

But before Joker or the shadow man continue with their shenanigans at the bottom of her bag Lucy found a small slip "Ah, found it!" She held it out to the shadow man. He took it from her and then pointed to Joker.

"What- **ah**?" Joker hissed at the shadow man.

"You need to give him your pass" Lucy explained.

"I don't, uh, have one and how is he holding that _solid_ piece of paper if my hand went right through him, _hm_? How do you explain that missy?"

Lucy crossed her arms at him, "You do have one and I don't know what you just said"

"Do not-ah" Joker clicked his tongue at her.

"Do too" Lucy huffed.

"Do not."

"Do too!"

"Do not."

"Do too!" Lucy's face grew red.

"Do not!"

"DO TOO! It's in your _pocket_!" Lucy stomped her foot and pointe up to his right pocket.

The shadow man shook his head. The grown man was having a fight with the little girl and he was supposed to be the mature one.

Joker exhaled exaggeratedly, "Do not, here look-" Joker paused when he put his gloveless hand in his right pocket. Joker pulled out the slip only to find a bar code on it. "What is this- _ah_?"

"That's your pass, you silly old man!" Lucy giggled.

"Hey, I'm not _old-ah_ and how did this get in my pocket? Did you put it in there, ya little rat?"

"NO! I didn't and I'm not a rat!" Lucy stomped her foot again.

"Then how did it get in there?" It hadn't been in his pocket when he last checked.

"You know, you ask a lot of questions for a grown up. I thought you knew everything." Lucy looked at him with a twinkle in her eyes.

"I do know I just…" Joker trailed off and shrugged "Let's just go, come on ya little rat"

"I'm not a rat! I'm a princess!"

"A princess huh?"

"Yeah, a princess! Look, my daddy even gave me this beautiful crown" She fixed her tiara on her head more securely.

"It's made of plastic" Joker told her frankly.

"No, it's made of real silver! My daddy told me so." Lucy said so as if it was a fact which made Joker roll his eyes.

Lucy hopped on her toes when she saw him roll his eyes "My daddy loves me very much, that's why he made me a princess."

"Oh yeah?" Joker challenged her.

"Yeah" Lucy vigorously nodded "He would do anything for me! This one time he jumped to save me from falling from a HUGE burning building."

"If he, uh, loved you so much why didn't he teach you to shower?"

"What?" Lucy asked him innocently.

"Nothing, let's go."

As Joker handed him his slip, Lucy stuffed her bag again whilst the shadow man began to rip their passes. He let them through once the slips had been ripped in to fine strips and put them in his little pocket.

Once inside, Joker noticed that all the passengers looked exactly like the shadow man but their outlines were different. Some looked like women, some looked old, and some looked young. No one was talking and it was silent except for the odd shuffle.

Lucy tugged him into a seat and sat next to him. All of the passengers were solitary except for Joker, he had Lucy accompanying him.

"So, kid, where-"

"Lucy!" she corrected him.

Joker cracked his neck and sighed through his nose, " _Lucy_ , where is this train going?"

Lucy, who had been looking out the window (despite there not being anything to see but pitch darkness) and turned to face him. Suddenly her face was not adorned with that smile of hers and she looked up at him solemnly "I don't know, look outside, can you see anything old man."

She cracked a smile and looked at him through her lashes.

"I'm. Not. Old- _ah_ " Joker scolded her.

"Are you older than ten?" Lucy asked, kicking her feet.

"Uh, _yeah_ "

"Then your olllllld-ah" Lucy finished in a fit of giggles.

"So how old are you then, Lucy?"

Lucy gasped, "You don't know?"

Joker shook his head "You're _mean_. I already told you, I'm eight! I'm a big girl"

Joker cracked up, "You're just a _little_ girl and you didn't tell me before. Say, where's your mom?"

Lucy smiled and shook her head "Mommy's not here"

"Didn't your _mommy_ not tell you to not to speak to strangers, hm?" Joker cocked his head at her.

Lucy looked at him "She did. But forget that for a sec, do you want to see my drawings? They're really good! I love drawing!" She held her colouring book in her lap.

She didn't have to ask, not really, because she was showing him already. They weren't Mona Lisa but they were alright for an eight year old.

"Oh, I like this _one_ " Joker pointed to a building that was in flames, "What is it?"

"My home" Lucy nodded "There was a big fire".

"Oh?" Joker quirked a brow ' **The same one your daddy saved your from?** ' Joker contemplated.

"Yeah, everyone died." Lucy quickly moved on to her other drawings.

Joker didn't question it outwardly because something told him he knew he wouldn't get an answer from her.

"Oh yeah, and here's Ace. He was my dog but he died. Daddy really liked dogs like me, so when Ace died Daddy got me this."

"It looks cheap" Joker chewed and sucked on his scars.

"I don't know what that means" Lucy said and turned back to her drawings.

Joker on the other hand tried to interact with the other passengers but Lucy told him that they couldn't hear him which was probably true since every time he cracked a joke or tried to insult them they merely acted as though he wasn't even there.

As they stopped at each platform a group of passengers were dropped off and Joker saw them descend down a few stairs before they disappeared completely.

Every time they came to a stop Lucy would pat his knee and tell him 'not yet'.

Joker had gotten bored of Lucy and her antics so he tried to recall his last memories. He had been with Batman that much he knew. Joker had been on his best behaviour and used his strings to declare himself sane and had been living his life peacefully for a couple of days. That peace entailed him getting back his joint, skinning a few idiots here and there, playing poker with the boys and just messing around with a few new _toys_. Then Batman confronted him on a bridge when Joker was on a walk. That was all he could remember thus far.

Finally, on the seventh stop Lucy told him it was time to ' _go'_.

As they passed the shadow man he tipped his hat at them, Lucy saluted him whereas Joker merely smirked at him and mouthed 'I'm the new Houdini'.

Joker took note that they had been the only ones to get off at this stop, "Well, Lucy, where to?"

Lucy looked up at him and smiled but it was different this time. She looked up at him with such love that it made him uncomfortable. She rushed forward and hugged his legs. Then she released him and pointed to the staircase that descended somewhere, he couldn't tell.

"If you go through there, you'll go home."

"Really?" Joker raised a brow.

"Yeah" Lucy nodded enthusiastically. Joker turned to descend the staircase and low and behold there was a bright light inviting him down there. It was so bright he couldn't see anything beyond it. Just as he took his third step he noticed he didn't hear Lucy behind him.

He twisted his head to find that she hadn't left her spot and was smiling at him endearingly. Joker suppressed a shiver of disgust.

"Aren't ya gonna come too, Lucy?"

She shook her head, "I have to wait for mommy! She'll be here soon."

Joker was going to question it but that strange kid had accompanied him to this strange place and told him that _home_ was just beyond. In all honestly, he was exhausted and just wanted to get back to Gotham and his Bat so he didn't question her and began to descend without her. It was as if time slowed for him.

A figure behind Lucy called out for her, she turned and exclaimed "MOMMY!" she raised her arms to wrap it around her mother's neck.

Her mother kissed her head and whispered to Lucy, "Now that you've helped him, it's time to go to the beyond, my darling" She looked at Joker's head as he descended further. She whispered to Lucy "Don't worry, we'll meet him there."

As Joker took his last steps and was swallowed by the light Lucy whispered…

"Goodbye Daddy."

 **The End**

 **A/N:**

 **Hi peoples, I hope you enjoyed this little story. Sorry for those who may have found it a bit disheartening. Please leave a review if you would be so kind, even if it is just to tell me how good/bad you think it was and if there are any questions I'll try to get back to you.**


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